1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water resistant and fire retardant containers. More particularly, it concerns a reusable container for releasably encapsulating an electrical connection formed within a wire nut between contacting ends of a plurality of electrical wires.
2. The Background Art
A number of devices and methods for establishing an electrical connection between a plurality of wires are known in the construction industry and other electricity-related industries. Wire nuts, for example, are used to establish and insulate such electrical connections. As used herein, the term "wire nut" refers generally to a small non-conductive cap having a wire receiving cavity, at least a portion of said cavity being defined by a low-resistance conductive surface for engaging contacting ends of a plurality of electrical wires. The conductive surface is typically threaded to more effectively engage the wire ends. A user entwines the ends of the wires and places the entwined ends into the wire receiving cavity. The user then holds the wires firmly in one hand and twists the wire nut with the other hand. The twisting action enables the threaded conductive surface to pull the entwined ends further into the receiving cavity and firmly engage said ends into a low resistance electrical contact.
Wire nuts are simple and easy to use and permit a user to quickly establish a firm, insulated electrical connection. Although an electrical connection can easily be made by simply twisting the ends of two wires together, the wire nut improves such a connection in a number of ways. The threaded conductive surface lodges the wires firmly together to prevent separation and to increase the contacting surface area between the wires. The non-conductive cap insulates users from any electrical current passing through the wires.
However, wire nuts do not offer sufficient protection against moisture and sparking. It is often the case that electrical connections are made in both wet and dry locations, and under gaseous and other conditions. When subject to moisture or humidity, an electrical connection can develop an oxidation layer and/or a short within the wires. Moreover, electrical connections can produce sparks capable of igniting volatile gases, dry goods and other flammable material. A known solution to these problems is to place a pliable sealant around the wire nut. Prior art sealants include both hardening and non-hardening compounds, both of which produce a waterproof capsule over the wire nut and the contacting ends of the wires.
It has been found to be time consuming, laborious and messy to use sealing compounds as described above. It is bothersome to keep separate sealing compounds around, and it is messy to apply them. In addition, an application of sealing compound on one electrical connection can be easily smeared off onto other wires or parts.
Containers of sealing compound have been developed to more effectively encase electrical connections within a sealing compound. U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,239 (issued to King, Jr., Sep. 29, 1992) teaches an enclosure having a conductive, threaded wire engaging inner surface disposed within a housing and filled with a sealing compound. A flexure cover closes off the enclosure. A user inserts entwined ends of electrical wires through the flexure cover into the housing and into the sealing compound until the entwined wires reach the wire engaging surface. The user then twists the housing about the wire ends such that the ends are drawn further into the enclosure and become firmly lodged therein. The King patent thus teaches a container having essentially a self-contained wire nut. The teachings of King fail to allow the use of a separate, independent wire nut. Further, it is more difficult to connect the wires with a container in the manner of King because such a container requires a user to push wires through a flexure cover, through sealing compound and into a threaded enclosure.
Containers have been developed for receiving a separate and independent wire nut therein. For example, a brochure by 3M (DBY-6 Direct Bury Splice Kit, Part No. 054007) teaches a container for receiving a wire nut and retaining flanges for retaining the wire nut within the container. A user twists wires into a wire nut in the traditional fashion, then places the wire nut with the wires extending therefrom into the container. The wire nut is pushed further into the end of the container and surpasses the retaining flanges, which retain the wire nut in a seated position and prevent the wire nut from being removed. An end cap having a living hinge snaps shut the container to completely encapsulate the wire nut, the end cap having slots to accommodate the wires extending out of the wire nut.
The 3M apparatus permits the use of a conventional-type wire nut and offers retaining flanges disposed on interior side walls of a container to retain the wire nut in a firm, seated position. However, the container taught in the 3M brochure offers limited capacity to retain various sizes of wire nuts. Further, the 3M brochure fails to teach removability of the wire nut, since the wire nut cannot be retrieved after it has been pushed beyond the retaining flanges unless the container is broken apart. This makes reusability of the container and future examination of the connection impractical. Moreover, it requires additional time and bother to position the wires within the end cap slots in order to close the end cap.
There is thus a need to achieve a reusable container for encapsulating a wire nut to thereby render water resistant and fire retardant an electrical connection which is simple in design and easy to use. Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that these and other needs are met by the present invention. The disadvantages of the prior art noted above, and others not specifically mentioned, are overcome in the present invention by provision of a reusable container having a removably mounted end cap through which a wire nut is inserted.